Pidemiologic Study of Chagas’ Disease in a Town in Oaxaca, Mexico1

Since 1940, when Mazzotti first reported human cases of Chagas’ disease in Mexico (observed at the town of Teojomulco in Oaxaca State--I), over 150 parasitologically confirmed acute and chronic cases have been reported, most of them in Mexico’s Pacific zone (2). During this period there have been seven epidemiologic investigations of Chagas’ disease in Mexico: the first by Biagi and colleagues in 1958 at Tutuapan, Mexico State (3) ; the second by Biagi and Tay in 1964 at Tetitlan, Guerrero State; the third by Tay and colleagues in 1966 in Michoacan State (4); the fourth by Zavala and colleagues (5); the fifth by Ortega and colleagues in 1976 in Chiapas State (6); the sixth by Tay, Salazar, and colleagues in Jalisco State (7); and the seventh the investigation in Oaxaca State that is being reported here.